ILF - this looks more like an equity fund to me, although it does have significant dividend payments. Latin America focused.
It began trading 10/26/2001. 100% of your account in ILF starting on that date would have obtained you an IRR of 8.22% against a max drawdown of 67.48% (ouch!), for a return to max DD ratio of 12.18%.
Compare that to SPY over the same period - its numbers are 8.34%, 55.19%, for a ratio of 15.11%.
SPY beats it, although many may like its very big payouts over time, and if the dollar depreciates against other currencies ILF would probably do much better. Is there a way to see what the dollar was versus other currencies, on average (or maybe versus Latin American currencies, on average, to be more precise), back in 10/26/2001 versus what it is today? We could then see what its results were putting currency changes aside.
REM - this looks like a mortgage REIT ETF
It began trading on 5/4/2007. Its numbers over time are HORRIBLE. Its IRR if you had bought it at its inception would be a negative 2.37%, with a max drawdown of 74.73%. Horrible.
However, it got caught in the 2008 mortgage crises. Let's say you were able to buy at or around its low after that. Let's say you bought it at the close on 3/5/2009 for an (adjusted) price of 9.83. Your IRR would still only be 6.98%, and max DD of 68.52%. Compare that to SPY return of 15.80% 33.72% max DD over same period.
Ouch. REM looks to me like something to avoid for long term holding.
